TEHRAN – Turbine manufacturing in Iran witnessed a 29.5 percent surge in the previous Iranian calendar year 1401 (ended on March 20) and the number of people working in the sector also increased by four-fold, data released by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) showed.

As Fars News Agency reported, currently, over 11,600 people are active in the power plant turbine manufacturing industry.

According to the deputy head of MAPNA Group, which is Iran’s top power plant and turbine manufacturing enterprise, all the company’s operational teams were 100 percent active in the previous year to increase production levels.

Back in January, the deputy head of Iran Powerplant Repairs Company said the country is currently among the world’s top manufacturers of steam and gas turbines.

“Currently, there are less than 10 major turbine manufacturing companies in the world, including GI, Siemens, and Mapna that manufacture gas and steam turbines,” Mohammad Gharaei said.

The official noted that Iran is also among the world’s leading countries in terms of repairing and overhauling turbines.

“We have carried out many international projects and we are negotiating with Russia, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria to collaborate in new important projects,” Gharaei said.

In April 2021, Iran’s former President Hassan Rouhani unveiled the country’s first domestically-made steam turbine rotor which was installed in a power plant near the capital Tehran.

The construction of the mentioned turbine placed Iran among the world’s top five steam turbine manufacturers.

The 82.5 MW turbine rotor which was manufactured by Iran Power Plant Repairs Company saved the country over $13 million since for importing the mentioned rotor nearly $21 million had to be spent.

Earlier in March 2021, the managing director of Iran’s MAPNA Group, which is the first and leading West Asia-based general contractor of thermal power plants in the MENA region, said that Iran was going to become an exporter of new classes of gas turbines in the near future.

Speaking on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of a deal for manufacturing an MGT-75 gas turbine for Iran’s Thermal Power Plant Holding (TPPH), Abbas Ali-Abadi said: “Iran now has the knowledge and technology to design and manufacture a variety of new gas turbines on a global scale.”

As Iran's top engineering and energy enterprise, Mapna had previously manufactured E-class and F-class turbines such as MGT-70.

The mentioned turbines have been used in domestic power stations as well as major power projects in neighboring countries like Iraq.

Iran used to import such pieces of equipment from foreign sources such as Germany’s Siemens. And now enjoying such technology, the country is among the world’s top manufacturers of power plants with high efficiency.

EF/MA